Chapter 23: The Plan
The day inside Vir's tent. Vir told Alfred to explain his plan to Armani.
"My plan is, we need to make a trap, but first you need to find a beast and observe its pattern so we can anticipate where to put the trap. If we determined where the beast always passes through, we can put a trap there and just wait for the beast to fall for it."
"What kind of trap are you talking about? Remember normal traps have no chance of succeeding." Armani asked.
"I am thinking we should dig a large and deep enough hole that can trap a beast, and then we will cover the hole to camouflage it. After that, I will make a big fire rune at the bottom of the hole. If the beast fell into the trap then the rune will activate roasting the beast to burnt."
"How will you activate the rune? If I recall accurately you need the blood of a monster to do that?"
"Well, that is where the pottery going to reveal its usefulness. Me and Elder Ahote will make a much larger pot than we showed in the celebration. We will bring this large pot filled with monster blood with us. After I am done making the fire rune, we will put the pot into the bottom of the trap.
In that case, we do not have to activate the rune ourselves, the beast will trigger the rune itself. If the beast fell into the trap the pot at the bottom will break at the same time. Afterward, the blood inside the pot will be spilled activating the fire rune."
"The plan of yours is genius. However, there are some flaws in this plan. First, we cannot put the trap where the beast consistently treads across. Because if we want to make a large and deep enough hole, we need a few days to finish it. If we stay in the passage where the beast always passes through the possibility of us being discovered will be very high.
So, we cannot put the trap in the exact path of the beast. Secondly, we cannot make a large and deep enough hole to trap an energetic beast, if the trap is not deep enough the beast can just jump to get out. What we need is to weaken the beast first before trapping it.
Therefore, we do not need to dig a very deep hole because the beast will not be able to jump if it does not have enough energy to do so. Thus, we need to set the trap far enough, then we will weaken the beast by exhausting it, and luring it slowly into the trap."
"Your version of my plan is more plausible and has a higher chance of success. You are really smart."
"Thank you, my only concern is, is your rune is strong enough? What if it got destroyed?"
"You do not have to worry, once my rune is activated you need to at least destroy half of it to stop it. I believe that the beast is already burnt to a crisp before that happened."
"Ok, I need at the minimum half a moon to start this plan. I will go now to prepare."
Armani said his farewell to Vir and Alfred before leaving the tent.
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In the present. The 3-Eyed Snake was about to devour Berus, but at the last moment, it fell into the trap. Soon after the beast fell, the hole burst into flame burning the 3-Eyed Snake inside. The 3-Eyed Snake screeched in pain while its body was engulfed in flame.
The 3-Eyed Snake trashed its body inside the hole. However, no matter what it does the burning flame surrounding its body just won't disappear. The scream of the 3-Eyed Snake lasted for a whole minute before it stopped, at the same time the flame was extinguished.
A few seconds had passed, but the 3-Eyed Snake was still silent inside the trap. Berus wanted to check if the 3-Eyed Snake truly died. However, before he does. The 3-Eyed Snake slowly crawled out from the hole, its body was now burnt black like charcoal, with the smell of burnt meat, and white smoke signifying the immense heat coming out from its body.
Berus immediately back off when he saw the 3-Eyed Snake, even though the 3-Eyed Snake looked badly hurt and weak Berus didn't let his guard down. After the 3-Eyed Snake's whole body came out of the trap, it tried to escape by slowly crawling to the nearest bushes.
In the few seconds, the slow movement of the 3-Eyed Snake became even slower. Soon after, the 3-Eyed snake finally stopped moving indicating its death. When Berus confirmed the death of the 3-Eyed Snake, he screamed out of glory.
The injured Arrows also screamed when they heard Berus. Because this means that they succeeded in hunting a beast, some even cried out of pure joy. Alfred stop holding his breath, he fell on his bottom when his body relaxed. He didn't know that hunting a beast will be this intense.
At first, he didn't know how big the beast was. He thought that the beast was just a little bigger than the monster. That's why when Armani said that it was impossible to create a deep enough hole to trap an energetic beast, he thought that Armani was just overestimating the beast.
But now that he saw one, Alfred finally believed that if Armani didn't point out the flaws of his plan, this hunt would utterly fail and it will be his fault. Alfred released a sigh of relief thinking about what might happen.
Berus returned with a wide smile on his face, he was very happy about his accomplishment. However, he stopped smiling when he remembered something, he handed over the Life Stone to Alfred and ran to where Armani was.
"Look after the wounded I will come back soon."
"Ok… Wait what do you mean to look after! What if a monster showed up how can I look after them!" Alfred replied in a panic.
"Do not worry! No monster will show up when you have the Life Stone! They will think that there is a beast nearby!"
Berus image gradually disappeared in the distance. Even though Alfred trusted Berus' words, he can't help himself but nervously look around at the neighboring bushes, afraid that something might appear. After some time, Berus returned with Vir and the other Arrows.
All of them were carrying one to two Arrows that were unconscious, or those who can't move on their own, except for Vir and Armani. they were not carrying someone because they were pulling the carcass of the Land Dragon, afraid that it will be eaten by another monster if they left it alone.
Alfred was surprised when he saw another beast being pulled by Vir and Armani. He saw how strong the 3-Eyed Snake so he knew how hard it was to kill a beast, if not for the rune they prepared in advance they will never be able to kill the 3-Eyed Snake. In fact, if Berus failed to lure the 3-Eyed Snake to the trap, they are the ones who would die not the beast.
For that reason, Alfred was puzzled about how can they hunt 2 beasts at the same time. Alfred wanted to know what happened, but he knows better than to ask that question right now. All the Arrows needed an immediate rest, even him who did not participate in the hunt felt tired, what about the Arrows who fight and got injured.
When the Arrows finally regroup, they felt mixed feelings about the result of this hunt. They are sad because one of the Arrows died, but at the same time, they are happy because only one Arrow died in this hunt.
In their previous hunt, the Arrows would always suffer 3 to 5 casualties every time they hunt a beast. So, the outcome of their latest hunt was outstanding compared to the past, maybe if not for the 3-Eyed Snake ambushed no Arrows would have died.
"The Arrows who can move, treat the injuries of those who cannot move and are unconscious. After that rest, I will be on first guard duty." Vir commanded.
"Head Arrow, please let me be the first guard duty, you also have a serious injury, you need to recuperate." Berus request to Vir.
"No Berus I am ok, you should rest for now I will wake you up for the next guard duty. Also, you did well."
Berus followed Vir's command with a smile. The next day, after the Arrows absorbed Life Energy so their wounds recover at a faster rate, they decided to cooked and eat the meat of both beasts to have a small celebration of their successful hunt. All the Arrows were eating, laughing, and comparing their skills to one another except for one.
Gunnar was not happy because of the incident yesterday, he became even more annoyed when he heard the laughter. He stood up and walked away to calm himself down, he decided to climb the tallest tree to breathe some fresh air.
Gunnar was enjoying the view on the top of the tallest tree when he saw in a distance a group of hunters chasing another group of hunters.